Investigations of the effect of pore size of ceramic membranes on the pilot-scale removal of oil from oil-water emulsion

This study examines mechanisms for removal of bacteriophages (MS2 and phiX174) by ceramic membranes without application of flocculants. The ceramic membranes considered included ultra- and microfiltration membranes of different materials. Phages were spiked into the feed water in pilot scale tests in a waterworks. The membranes with pore sizes of 10 nm provided a 2.5–4.0 log removal of the phages. For pore sizes of 50 nm, the log removal dropped to 0.96–1.8. The membrane with a pore size of 200 nm did not remove phages. So, the removal of both MS2- and phiX174-phages depended on the pore size of the membranes. But apart from pore size also other factors influence the removal of phages. Removal was 0.5–0.9 log higher for MS2-phages compared with phiX174-phages. Size exclusion seems to be the major but not the only mechanism which influences the efficiency of phage removal by ceramic membranes.

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Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membrane Via Vapour Induced Phase Separation for Oil/Water Emulsion Filtration

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13030427 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 427

Author(s):

Normi Izati Mat Nawi ◽

Nur Rifqah Sait ◽

Muhammad Roil Bilad ◽

Norazanita Shamsuddin ◽

Juhana Jaafar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phase Separation ◽

Pore Size ◽

Water Permeability ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Polyvinylidene Fluoride ◽

Clean Water ◽

Mean Flow ◽

Water Emulsion ◽

Oil Water ◽

Emulsion Filtration

Membrane-based technology is an attractive option for the treatment of oily wastewater because of its high oil removal efficiency, small footprint and operational simplicity. However, filtration performance is highly restricted by membrane fouling, especially when treating oil/water emulsion as a result of strong interaction between oil droplets and the hydrophobic property of the membrane. This study explores the fabrication of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based membrane via the vapour induced phase separation (VIPS) method while incorporating polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as a hydrophilic additive to encounter membrane fouling issues and improve membrane filterability. The resulting membranes were characterized and tested for oil/water emulsion filtration to evaluate their hydraulic, rejection and anti-fouling properties. Results show that the changes in membrane morphology and structure from typical macrovoids with finger-like substructure to cellular structure and larger membrane pore size were observed by the prolonged exposure time from 0 to 30 min through the VIPS method. The enhanced clean water permeability is attributed to the addition of PVP–LiCl in the dope solution that enlarges the mean flow pore size from 0.210 ± 0.1 to 7.709 ± 3.5 µm. The best performing membrane was the VIPS membrane with an exposure time of 5 min (M-5), showing oil/water emulsion permeability of 187 Lm−2 h−1 bar−1 and oil rejection of 91.3% as well as an elevation of 84% of clean water permeability compared to pristine PVDF developed using a typical non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method. Despite the relatively high total fouling, M-5 was able to maintain its high permeability by water flushing as a simple operation for membrane fouling control. The performance was achieved thanks to combination of the large mean flow pore size and hydrophilic property from residual PVP in the membarne matrix. Overall, the results demonstrate the potential of the optimum VIPS method in the presence of PVP and LiCl additives for oil/water emulsion treatment.

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Sensitivity of coalescence separation of oil–water emulsions using stainless steel felt enabled by LBL self-assembly and CVD

RSC Advances ◽

10.1039/c5ra10415g ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (87) ◽

pp. 71345-71354 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Xiaoyu Li ◽

Dan Hu ◽

Lixia Cao ◽

Chuanfang Yang

Keyword(s):

Stainless Steel ◽

Pore Size ◽

Self Assembly ◽

Surface Wettability ◽

Water Emulsion ◽

Oil In Water ◽

Emulsion Separation ◽

Oil Water ◽

Oil In Water Emulsion

Coalescence sensitivity to surface wettability and pore size of roughened stainless steel felt was revealed for oil-in-water emulsion separation.

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Eco-facile application of electrospun nanofibers to the oil-water emulsion separation via coalescing filtration in pilot- scale and beyond

Process Safety and Environmental Protection ◽

10.1016/j.psep.2020.10.015 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 148 ◽

pp. 342-357

Author(s):

Masoud Barani ◽

Saeed Bazgir ◽

Mahsa Keyvan Hosseini ◽

Parisa Keyvan Hosseini

Keyword(s):

Electrospun Nanofibers ◽

Pilot Scale ◽

Water Emulsion ◽

Emulsion Separation ◽

Oil Water

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Cigarette Butt Waste as Material for Phase Inverted Membrane Fabrication Used for Oil/Water Emulsion Separation

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13121907 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 1907

Author(s):

Aris Doyan ◽

Chew Lee Leong ◽

Muhammad Roil Bilad ◽

Kiki Adi Kurnia ◽

Susilawati Susilawati ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pore Size ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Separation Efficiency ◽

Gas Production ◽

Mean Flow ◽

Oil And Gas Production ◽

Water Emulsion ◽

Cigarette Butt ◽

Oil Water

The increasing rate of oil and gas production has contributed to a release of oil/water emulsion or mixtures to the environment, becoming a pressing issue. At the same time, pollution of the toxic cigarette butt has also become a growing concern. This study explored utilization of cigarette butt waste as a source of cellulose acetate-based (CA) polymer to develop a phase inverted membrane for treatment of oil/water emulsion and compare it with commercial polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and polysulfone (PSF). Results show that the CA-based membrane from waste cigarette butt offers an eco-friendly material without compromising the separation efficiency, with a pore size range suitable for oil/water emulsion filtration with the rejection of >94.0%. The CA membrane poses good structural property similar to the established PVDF and PSF membranes with equally asymmetric morphology. It also poses hydrophilicity properties with a contact angle of 74.5°, lower than both PVDF and PSF membranes. The pore size of CA demonstrates that the CA is within the microfiltration range with a mean flow pore size of 0.17 µm. The developed CA membrane shows a promising oil/water emulsion permeability of 180 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 after five filtration cycles. However, it still suffers a high degree of irreversible fouling (>90.0%), suggesting potential future improvements in terms of membrane fouling management. Overall, this study demonstrates a sustainable approach to addressing oil/water emulsion pollution treated CA membrane from cigarette butt waste.

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Preparation and application of low-cost ceramic membranes for separation of oil-water emulsion

Journal of Physics Conference Series ◽

10.1088/1742-6596/2070/1/012076 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2070 (1) ◽

pp. 012076

Author(s):

Pooja Gopinath ◽

Murali Pujari ◽

Tirumala Rao Kotni

Keyword(s):

Low Cost ◽

Ceramic Membranes ◽

Ftir Analysis ◽

Water Emulsion ◽

Membrane Performance ◽

Membrane Characterization ◽

Dead End ◽

Oil Water ◽

The Impact ◽

Compaction Method

Abstract This work presents the impact of fabricating pressure on the performance of ceramic membranes during the dead-end microfiltration of an oil-water emulsion. The membranes used in this study were fabricated at a pressure of 40 kN and 100 kN using the dry compaction method. The membrane characterization was done using XRD and FTIR analysis. The membrane performance was evaluated by carrying dead-end microfiltration experiments using synthetic oil-water emulsion as a feed at a trans-membrane pressure of 30 psi. The experimental results confirmed that the membrane fabricated at higher fabricating pressure (100 kN) gives better performance in terms of maximum oil rejection of 95.7% with the maximum flux of 2.04x10−3 m3/m2.s.

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